Ouch...

I could have told you that was going to happen from the beginning

 

"He's a business man. Not a creator." - Hideki Kamiya about Keiji Inafune

The Internet: "Mr. Inafune your game is... mediocre."

Inafune:

 

You guys know what the oddest thing for me next week is?

Inafune has a panel and autograph session at Anime Expo.

 

whatever intern is in charge of this Twitter is out for blood

 

One day I hope to be that savage.

 

arent sonic games really bad tho

 

Just really hit and miss post-Sonic Adventure 2.

 

90% of recent Sonic games I felt like had decent potential but not enough polish. I almost think there must be a conversation around there like

"Alright guys, we're finally in alpha. Let's get some people in to play test this"
"Wait, it's playable? Why aren't we selling this yet?"
"It's not done, we need more time to-"
"Could you get some box art on my desk this afternoon? We're publishing."
"But we're not-"
"Great. Thanks bud."

 

That's why I ignore reviews unless they're positive. The negative ones are just full of a bunch of whiny people making up ridiculous statements and complaining about everything. Like on GameFAQs, you'll have 20 good reviews of a game, but there always has to be that one idiot who whines about the game not being good enough and blah, blah, blah.

 

Sometimes the reviews are bad for good reason. Like with Aliens: Colonial Marines. Which I experienced first hand. AND DEEPLY REGRET PAYING FULL PRICE TO THIS DAY.

 

Here's an example of what I mentioned: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/583527-dragon-quest-viii-journey-of-the-cursed-king/reviews

But, anyway. Honestly, reviews, positive or negative, don't mean anything. You should play the game first-hand and see what you think, not rely on a bunch of reviews. A game could have overwhelmingly negative reviews and you still like it.

 

Negative reviews are important. I just don't care for review scores that much. Basically read through their points and see if the stuff the reviewer cared about are the same things you care about. Since everyone's opinions differ there are going to be things in there that you can dismiss and some things that you care about that they didn't (so you grab it from other reviews)

 

Now I understand what you are saying as I've enjoyed many things (games, movies especially, etc) this year that was just completely crapped on by reviewers. I feel like it is important to understand what a review has to offer and to not expect anything more from it. It also sucks that nowadays (and I'm sure this has been going on since the dawn of time) people feel the need to dehumanize or belittle those who share differing opinions or strong opinions. I've seen reputable reviewers give 2-3/10's, and to that I ask what's the difference? A person who isn't paid to do a review (or rather isn't paid to DO reviews in general) isn't going to put nearly the amount of effort in as those who are. Granted, there will always be outliers, as there are people who put effort into writing reviews on various sites who are not paid or rewarded in any traditional way.

It's just odd to say "this person is an idiot because they said this or that". Truthfully, who are you to judge? Specifically user submitted reviews (by design) are a reflection of the opinions of users. This isn't a hard concept to grasp, and I am not doubting your capability to do so. I just have a problem when somebody attempts to eliminate the credibility of a review, simply because it doesn't make YOU happy. It isn't supposed to. If somebody writes an essay about how great a game is, that is just as useful as those who write three sentences about how "x" game sucked in their eyes. It's their opinion, you don't have to like it, but to not respect its existence is a bit petty.

That's not true at all. To many reviews are of an extremely vital importance. The usefulness in reviews (believe it or not) lies in the opinions (that you apparently loathe). If "user a" writes a review based on how he/she doesn't like how mechanically solid a specific game is, those who value solid in game mechanics can find value in that review. Its up to you to find the usefulness in these reviews, and if you haven't yet, that doesn't mean that reviews are a useless tool.

Not to mention how reviews help a large majority of the world financially. If I can save 60 dollars because a game I wasn't sure about got bad reviews, then I am SUPER thankful for the reviews being there.

 

I guess another way to put it is to simply say don't rely too heavily on reviews. Play the game first-hand and see what you think and then go back and look at, say, five good reviews, five in-between reviews, and five bad reviews, and see what you agree or disagree with in each.